Lewisham Citizens celebrate selling 500 community land trust shares. Mayor of Lewisham Sir Steve Bullock said 'I would love to buy a share myself but I think there would be too many conflicts of interest'. The Mayor agreed to continue to use all of his powers to push through a Lewisham Citizens Community Land Trust project and ensure that the group receive a letter of intent regarding a piece of land in Lewisham just before or just after Christmas. St William of York RC church sold over 250 shares.

On Tuesday 13 October, over 900 leaders from Citizens UK called on Prime Minister, David Cameron to break the deadlock between central government and local councils to enable Syrian refugees to be brought to the UK before freezing temperatures see more children die in refugee camps in the region.

This was also an opportunity to announce the progress that our teams have made around the country, including securing:

40 Councils that have committed to resettling at least 50 refugees despite the holdup of ongoing negotiations over the financial deal with government, the total pledged is 3,047

25 Universities – have committed £3.5 million worth of scholarships to fund 147 places for Syrians

Landlords – 727 private landlords have registered their properties to be used by Syrian refugees

Wednesday 30th September saw the launch of “Strengthening Babies’ Futures”, a pioneering community organising project bringing together parents, community groups, maternity services and academics to improve support for parents in Southwark, in order to reduce health inequalities and give children the best start in life.

“Strengthening Babies’ Futures” is being led by Southwark Citizens, part of the national community organising charity Citizens UK, in collaboration with Guy’s and St Thomas’, Kings College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts and Kings College London, the four organisations that make up King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre.

“Rabbi, the answer is yes”

Barnet Citizens, part of national community organising charity, Citizens UK, organised a ‘Sanctuary Succot in Barnet’ on 27th September – St Vincent de Paul’s feast day – as part of its campaign to persuade Barnet Council to welcome 50 Syrian refugees into the community – resulting in the Leader of the Council, Richard Cornelius responding “Rabbi, the answer is yes” to Barnet signing up to the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme.

The University of Birmingham's College of Social Sciences joined Citizens UK Birmingham as a principal partner last year. Yvonne Sawbridge is a Senior Fellow at the Health Services Management Centre, and also an Aston Villa fan. She has become centrally involved in the campaign to persuade Aston Villa to become the first Living Wage football club in the Midlands. This is an article she wrote for the School of Social Policy blog.

Community leaders from Citizens UK welcomed the removal of payday lender Speedy Cash’s advertising slogan ‘you are not aloan, we are here if you need us’ from stores this weekend.

The move comes weeks after leaders from Citizens UK, working with lawyer Jacob Turner, filed a complaint to Camden Council about the slogan on the grounds that it could mislead vulnerable people into thinking that Speedy Cash was a form of support service rather than a payday lender.